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[PA Comic] Monday, May 28, 2012 - Further Disruptions
Geth
LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
Posts
Dmitri 2012
STEAM
10:00 PM here but I'm running on like four hours sleep and was up at 5 am!
Man, those PA are so damn funny.
Which hopefully ends in a mutually satisfying dialog.
:^:
You guys are so fucking funny. I can't even believe it.
I imagine Mike just saying vagina so often that Jerry had to come up with that acronym before his brain exploded.
MY BRAAAAAAAAIN!
I can't help but think that RAGE proved John Carmack's quote to be so completely and utterly untrue at this point in gaming, or at least specifically for console and PC games at this point. The game had fantastic visuals, a somewhat interesting combat, and an interesting setting, but the story flopped so utterly that it's become a punch-line and almost every review (personal and professional) I've heard has mentioned that the poor and almost non-existant story ruined gameplay.
For those at work or who can't check the link, Tycho's talking about the below quote:
Kudos for braving the new fronteir Ubisoft
you would need some cunning linguists for true enjoyment.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
A dude named Mark Simon, who is described as an animator, storyboard artist and entrepreneur, whose website is this wholly convincing thing:
http://sellyourtvconceptnow.com/pitch-tv-show/
The music industry fought this same battle over what "indie" means about 10 years ago. Indie rock was music independently produced without the support, but more importantly, without the control of a major label. Indie rock was fresh, creative, and had spirit which had not been sucked out by corporate control, unlike radio rock. Bands like Modest Mouse, Yo La Tengo, and Half-Japanese were all considered indie.
Eventually, by the 2000s, as the corporate music industry began to decline, the fat cats started paying attention and started signing the bigger indie bands like Modest Mouse. Modest Mouse's sound evolved but who's to say where that was because of the corporate influence, the cash, or just natural artistic development? But what's important is that their sound was still considered "indie."
I believe this whole issue came to a head when it was announced that Hanson (yes, that "Mmm Bop" Hanson) was getting back together and would be releasing an "indie rock" album. Indie as a term was clearly no longer confined to mean "independently-produced rock'n'roll" but now defined a sound. In a way it became a more meaningful term because at the end of the day, the final product the listener hears really could be produced anywhere with any means and have a sound that the audience enjoys, without the means of production defining the output more than the content of the work.
These days, the music industry is essentially chaos, with genres clashing, corporate control dipping in and out, and just plain good music happening everywhere. The fact that The Arcade Fire, an essentially both independent (in support) AND indie (in genre) band won the best album Grammy last year speaks volumes of how the industry has matured into accepting different work and embracing it along with the traditional pop stars.
I bet the gaming industry will experience a very similar transformation. At the moment, "indie" games tend to be stripped down to basics and be a bit nostalgic for just plain good gameplay, in contrast to the big industry titans which moved on for flashy productions. Now some big companies are catching wind, buying up smaller, independent companies who are good at making "that feel" and producing their own "indie games" as a genre.
This has all happened before and it will happen again.